Discovered
by SimplyMe51
Summary: It's been ten years since freshman year in high school; ten years since they found out about the supernatural. Benny and Ethan are the unofficial guardians of Whitechapel, but they're about to face something neither of them expected. Is their secret finally out?
1. Chapter 1

**Important Author's Note: **

**Welcome to my story. This story was inspired by the story _Tomorrow _by akspick, which I really recommend you go read. I see this story as sort of in between akspick's _Tomorrow_ and the TV series. My story will differ from _Tomorrow _however (for those of you who read it) in that I'm mainly focusing on Ethan and Benny, and Jane won't be as powerful as akspick writes her. **

**Also, I'm open to any comments or suggestions as this is still a work in progress. I intend to update every two weeks on Tuesdays (at least in my time zone) so it should be pretty regular. Finally, if anything confuses you feel free to let me know and I'll try and explain it, though I can't reply to anonymous reviews.**

**On a side note, I don't have anything against gay people or slash, but one of my OC's (a rather minor character though he will show up again) does. I don't agree with his views but there will be minimal romance in this story and no slash.**

**Enjoy:**

* * *

"Catch!" Ethan shouted to his best friend, tossing him the collapsible wooden stake. He watched as it flew through the empty space of the warehouse, straight for his partner in the hunt.

Benny turned around and caught it one-handed, swinging around again in one fluid move to stake the vampire charging him. The vampire looked down at the stake in his chest with horror before disintegrating and Benny straightened up, collapsing the stake and throwing it back to his best friend, grinning. "Is that all of them?"

In response Ethan lifted his modified Nerf gun and shot a wooden dart above Benny's head, effectively eliminating the vampire about to pounce on him. He too smiled. "That's all of them." It was impossible to tell that a fight had just occurred in the abandoned warehouse, only the footsteps in the dust indicated that anyone had been in there.

Benny just grinned wider, unshaken by his close encounter with death. "Good, I'm starving." He snapped his fingers and the two friends disappeared.

They rematerialized in the kitchen at their shared apartment. While the apartment wasn't the biggest, it was a decent size, and more than enough for both of them. The kitchen was fully equipped: fridge, stove, counters (and sink), and microwave all on the far wall, with the table shoved in the left corner, only two of the chairs being used. The other corner had the leftover two chairs up against the wall. It was a surprisingly clean room, given that two young men lived there, but that was one of the benefits of having a sorcerer for a roommate. Not to mention that the two were away a lot, and even when they were home they didn't necessarily use the kitchen.

As soon as they arrived Ethan reached out to grab his friend's arm before he could cast another spell. "You are not magicing us another pizza," he admonished.

"Why not?" Benny practically whined. "I even make it nutritionally healthy."

"Because we had pizza for the last three nights," Ethan reminded him, striding over to the fridge. "Tonight we're cooking real food."

"Fine," Benny reluctantly conceded, waving his hand to turn on the stove. As it clicked on, preheating, he turned to leave the small kitchen, "I'm going to put all this away." He gestured at the weapons in his hands.

Ethan just hummed in reply, his back turned, rooting through the fridge and freezer for something acceptable to eat for dinner.

Benny exited the kitchen for the foyer, turning down the hallway to the left and heading toward their official "magic room", where they kept everything magical that wasn't on their person. It was half office-half storeroom, the entire left and back walls covered with bookshelves that housed many different spell books, potions, and enchanted items they had collected over the years. Immediately upon entering, a chest sat to the left of the door, right before the bookshelves started on the left wall, and two desks sat to the right of the door, one right next to each other. One was Benny's and the other was Ethan's but they were often used interchangeably. Finally a counter of sorts had been set up against the right wall under the window. It was here that Benny brewed his potions. The middle of the room was empty, a pentagram drawn on the floor for the more complex spells. Benny dropped off their used weapons on the first bookshelf to the left, grabbing the spell book off of his desk that he had gotten when Ethan and he had gone France last weekend. After checking on the potion he had brewing he headed back to the kitchen, absent-mindedly thumbing through his book. While he was hopeless in the kitchen he could at least keep Ethan company. He entered the room just in time to see Ethan put something in the stove. "Chicken?" he asked.

Ethan shrugged. "It was all we had." He sat down adjacent to Benny at the table, nodding at the book in his hand. "That the new spell book?"

Benny nodded, but before he could reply the doorbell rang. Ethan shrugged at Benny's questioning glance and Benny frowned. They didn't have too many visitors and the ones they did have Ethan knew.

Ethan's seer powers had really developed over the years. Sophomore year he had started to be able to enter people's' minds and feel their emotions just by touching them. Eventually he could get basic emotions off of people by being near them, enabling him to practically sense when people were nearby. He was even able to recognize those he knew just by feeling their emotions. It was impossible to sneak up on him, Benny complained to himself as he approached the door.

He opened it without bothering to look through the peephole, not worried about who was on the other side. He had put the wards on the apartment himself after all and nothing could get in without him knowing it, not even magic. Any spell would stop at the door, and no person could get over the doorstep without his permission. He had even mixed an illusion spell into the warding, ensuring that any mortal not already aware of the supernatural would only see a normal apartment, no spell books lying around, no potions in the fridge, and the magic room appearing as an office.

A worried face greeted him, and Benny frowned pensively. "Can I help you?" By his estimate the man was probably in his forty's, with a little grey hair showing. He was well dressed, but definitely stressed. There was a wedding band on the appropriate finger and a cell phone secured at his hip. He could have been any typical business man, but Benny had a feeling he wasn't there for business.

The stranger looked surprised at his appearance, and looked over him before opening his mouth hesitantly. "I … I thought … well, maybe … um," the stranger floundered, clearly uncertain of what to say, and Benny shifted impatiently, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you could help me!" The stranger finally blurted out.

"Help you with what?" Benny asked quizzically, unsure as to what the man wanted. They dealt primarily in the supernatural, so he had no idea what the man thought he could help with. He and Ethan did both have computer science degrees, but they weren't experts by any means.

The stranger shook his head, seemingly flustered. "Never mind, this was a mistake. You're … you're not what I expected."

But he didn't turn to leave and Benny realized the man was even more desperate than what he had first thought. "What did you expect?" He asked.

"They said you were a Spell Master! Not some kid!" The man seemed exasperated, but Benny wasn't paying attention to that. No one should know that he was a Spell Master. No one should know that a Spell Master lived here.

He turned his head slightly to the right, towards the kitchen. "E!" He called out, raising his voice slightly – best not to give the man any names.

Ethan entered the room cautiously, sensing Benny's apprehension, and glanced his way. Benny gave him a nod in the stranger's direction. Ethan nodded in reply and turned, walking toward the stranger with a smile. "Sorry about that," Ethan apologized cheerfully, giving no indication that anything was wrong. "I was cooking dinner. What can we help you with?" Ethan stretched out his hand past the door frame and the stranger took it, unaware that he was practically giving Ethan his life story – as well as his future.

To the outside world, little was happening, but Benny watched as his friend's eyes fogged up before almost instantly returning to normal. Ethan backed up after the handshake, bumping into Benny as he went to stand next to him. To the stranger it appeared as though nothing had happened but Ethan had used the brief contact to enter Benny's mind and send him one word – friendly.

Benny nodded slightly, but still glared accusingly at the man on their doorstep. "How'd you know I'm a Spell Master?" Next to him Ethan started in shock but Benny figured it was all for show. The man may have known he was a wizard but he clearly didn't know Ethan was a seer. The two of them kept their secrets very close, and the only ones who knew everything about them were each other, they weren't about to reveal anything to a random person they had never met before and might never see again.

The stranger on their doorstep looked seemingly disgusted and glared at the two of them. "Never mind, you're too young to handle something like this anyway."

It was an abrupt change in topic and a far cry from the desperate man he was before, and Benny was confused. As he turned away to leave Ethan shifted his weight, bumping into Benny again and sending him another quick message. He frowned in understanding, narrowing his eyes at the stranger. "We're not gay," he declared angrily.

The man stopped in his tracks, turning back to them in surprise. "What?"

"We're not gay," Benny repeated, sneering at the man – a most uncharacteristic expression for him. "But if you've got a problem with that…" He held up his hand threateningly, as though about to snap his fingers, and the man's eyes widened in fear. He clearly knew what a Spell Master was capable of, even if he doubted the age of the sorcerer in question.

"No!" The man spoke quickly, his eyes wide with fear as he returned to the doorway. "No, I don't have a problem with that."

Ethan scoffed. "You live in a world of magic and yet you can't tolerate others' differences?"

"We'll help you, because that's what we do, but don't expect anything else," Benny continued with a frown.

"What do you need?" The two brothers in all but blood switched back and forth, able to complete each other's thoughts with ease.

The man hesitated, still angry and defensive but clearly in need of their help. "There's a ghost in my house," he finally said. "He won't stop messing with me or my son."

Benny nodded shortly, "We'll get our stuff."

The man looked curiously at Ethan. "Are you a Spell Master too?"

"No," Ethan spoke bluntly, before turning and following Benny to the magic room.

As soon as they were in the hallway safely out of earshot Benny turned to his friend. "I thought you said friendly!" He hissed, glancing back as a reflex to make sure the stranger hadn't heard.

Ethan frowned. "Sorry about that, I got a brief glimpse of his prejudice but I didn't realize it'd be directed at us," he explained. "Aside from that he is a friendly person. His wife was a witch – or spellcaster, sorry, he kept thinking witch – and even after she died he kept in contact with some of her friends, which is how I think he found out about us. He really cares about his son too. I couldn't tell but I think the ghost broke the kid's arm."

"Ouch," Benny winced sympathetically as they stopped just inside the magic room. They hadn't really needed anything, except to talk things out, but Benny grabbed a few health potions off the bookshelves as well as his bag off his desk and Ethan nodded in approval before continuing.

"It seems to be a pretty high level ghost, though either it can't manifest to be seen or doesn't want to. It can definitely affect this world though."

"Like Coach Ed back in high school?"

Ethan nodded. "But a lot more malicious. Coach Ed was just a bully; this ghost wants to hurt people."

"Think you can see it?" Benny asked, sounding almost nervous. Ethan felt the same way, they didn't deal with too many ghosts – especially not ones of this level.

He nodded hesitantly. "If it's not purposely trying to hide I should be able to – otherwise we need to find whatever set it loose."

"Alright," Benny stated confidently as they left the room. "How's the future look?"

Ethan fell into step beside his best friend. "Ghost free," he announced grimly, "but I didn't see how it turned out for us."

Benny nodded in acceptance and the two stopped before entering the foyer. "Alias two?"

Ethan nodded. "Unless he knows, then we'll stick with one."

As Ethan and Benny traveled the world – learning all they could about their powers and protecting people from the supernatural – they used aliases, concealing their true identities. When they were younger it would have made them giddy to be like the superheroes from their comic books but Ethan and Benny had matured. They knew exactly how serious it could get and they had enemies. Alias two had them posing as fraternal twin brothers Evan and Brian White, something they pulled off quite well. Alias one was simply themselves, Ethan Morgan and Benny Weir.

They entered the foyer to find the man still in the doorway, seemingly frustrated. "Why can't I get in?"

"Sorry, you're not keyed into the wards," Benny told him, though he didn't seem very apologetic.

"Did you drive?" Ethan asked.

"Because we're going to need a ride," Benny finished.

The man nodded and the two of them followed him out of the building and to his car. Ethan got in the passenger's side while Benny got in the back, puzzling the stranger. As far as he knew Ethan was a mere mortal and Benny was a powerful sorcerer. But it didn't matter to the two brothers. Their relative power held no meaning to each other and they didn't get jealous. Ethan was the leader. To them it was practically a fact of life. No matter what alias they were using, no matter what guise they traveled under, Ethan was the leader. Even their three powerful vampire friends never debated it. Ethan was the glue that held them all together, and they all knew it. And so, Ethan sat in the front, neither of them caring what the man thought.

The car ride through Whitechapel was mostly silent. The man introduced himself as Thomas Hall and admitted to not knowing their names. They stuck with alias two, introducing themselves as Evan and Brain White. Before too long they pulled into a driveway and Ethan held back a groan as he realized they were in one of the oldest parts of town – plenty of time for a ghost to build up anger.

"How old is the house?" He asked as he got out of the car, looking across the top of it at the house's owner.

"Uh…as old as the town I think," Hall offered. "I'm really not that sure."

Ethan and Benny exchanged a glance as they shut their respective car doors – plenty of time.

"Is your son home?" Benny asked as they walked to the front door.

Hall nodded. "Should be, do I need to tell him to stay out of your way?"

"You both should."

"When did you first notice the ghost?"

They entered the house, both Ethan and Benny continuing the conversation while they canvassed their surroundings. The house setup seemed very similar to Ethan's childhood home, a set of stairs directly in front of them as they entered, living room to the left, and kitchen down the hallway next to the stairs.

Hall racked his brain and Ethan and Benny turned from their subtle inspection of the house to the sound of footsteps on the stairs. A young man stopped on the bottom stair, left arm in a sling. Ethan judged him to be 18, probably fresh out of high school, and noted the skepticism practically rolling off him. "These are the ghost hunters? They're barely older than me!"

Neither Benny nor Ethan responded and Hall took the time to introduce them and reprimand his son. Ethan, next to Benny, shifted and stepped on the sorcerer's foot, ensuring they could talk in private.

_"Don't forget about the potion,"_ Ethan reminded Benny.

_"I won't,"_ Benny turned to look at Ethan, _"did you say his mother was a spellcaster?"_

Ethan nodded, understanding his friend's thought process. _"Want me to check it out?"_

_"If you can, meanwhile, what's our plan of action?"_

_"Remember that ghost detector spell you were telling me about? Try that first."_

_"But we already know the ghost is here."_

_"The spell should pinpoint the location so that we know which room."_

_"Alright, how are we going to stop it from leaving?"_

_"Something tells me if it could leave the house it would have already,_" Ethan exited his friend's mind, the mental conversation over, as Hall finished his apology. He had been able to manipulate their mental conversation so that virtually no time had passed outside of it, something that had come in handy more than once.

"Don't worry about it," Benny shrugged off Hall's apology as a look of concentration crept onto his face. He held his hand slightly in front of him, reciting the spell, before flinging his hand away to release the magic. As the magic traveled around the house he turned back to Hall. "Did you figure out when?"

Hall nodded, "After I started renovating the bathroom upstairs, I never finished."

Benny turned – distracted by his magic, which had located the ghost – and Ethan took up the conversation. "What was the last thing you did?"

Hall furrowed his eyebrows in thought and his son took the opportunity to speak. "He asked me to take out the mirror, but I dropped it."

Ethan nodded in thanks, turning to Benny. "Bathroom?"

"I think so, the door is sealed and I didn't exactly power the spell." He headed up the stairs and Ethan followed, slightly jostling the teenager on his way up. They stopped in front of a door and, concentration evident on his face, Benny thrust his hand out. For a moment nothing happened, then the door slowly creaked open, revealing the interior of the bathroom. Ethan noted the surprise behind him and turned to tell the Halls to leave just as a part of the toilet flew out the door.

"Look out!" Benny cried, trying and failing to deflect it with magic.

Ethan glanced back, noticed the jagged piece of porcelain headed for Hall's son, and made a split-second decision, diving for the startled teenager. While his decision had probably saved the kid's life, Ethan suffered from his heroic act, and the jagged edge clipped him, slicing his arm open.

"E!" Benny cried out, taking a step forward toward his injured brother. He blinked, casting a spell he was all too familiar with, and a bandage wrapped itself around Ethan's upper right arm – staunching the bleeding. Ethan blinked, his eyes tight with pain, and looked up and Benny.

"I'm alright," he gasped, looking back at the porcelain that had shattered upon impact with the wall. "Go ahead."

Benny nodded, more determined than ever, and headed into the bathroom, pulling a witch jar out of his bag. As soon as the door shut behind him Ethan winced, using his left arm to sit up. He kept his right arm hugged to his chest, remaining propped up on his left.

Hall rush over, torn between checking on his son – who had hit his head when Ethan knocked him down – and checking to make sure Ethan was all right.

"I'm alright," Ethan repeated, waving Hall toward his son, knowing that he would be fine. Hall smiled at him gratefully – glad that he could check on his son.

After a few minutes, the door to the bathroom slammed open loudly. Benny came out, the witch jar clasped firmly in his hand. He strode over to his friend extending his left arm to help Ethan up, temporarily ignoring the Halls.

"You got it?" Ethan asked weakly as Benny helped him up.

Benny nodded, waving the jar in his hand. "She was mean but I got her," he handed his friend a potion. "I can't heal you because the toilet was enchanted, but this should help."

After Ethan drank the potion, the two brothers turned toward the Halls. Mr. Hall was helping his son sit up and it appeared the teenager had suffered a blow to the head. Benny handed out another of his potions, explaining that it couldn't heal the broken arm but would most certainly help, as well as fix any disorientation from the blow to the head. Hall was very grateful but the boys just wanted to leave. They shrugged off all his thanks, heading back down the stairs and out of the house. Hall was so flustered he didn't even remember that he had driven them. It didn't matter to them though, Benny snapped his fingers for the second time that day and they rematerialized at their apartment. Benny helped Ethan to the magic room where he had more medical supplies. He couldn't magically fix the wound, but that didn't mean he couldn't help. His potion had taken the edge off the pain, and Ethan redressed the wound while Benny searched for a better potion. Eventually he found one that suited his needs, handing it to Ethan and flicking his left hand slightly to dispose of the bloody bandages.

"Like I said, it won't heal you," he told his friend, "but this potion should stop the bleeding. It's a cursed wound, so it will take a while to heal, but I can keep giving you potions for the pain."

"Thanks," Ethan managed to say after he downed the potion. "Did you manage to save dinner?"

Benny chuckled, that was just like Ethan, distracting others about the problems they were experiencing and downplaying his own pain. He never understood how his brother could be so selfless, but it was one of the things he loved about Ethan and one of the reasons why they were always so successful. "I put a stasis spell on the oven," he finally said, "the chicken should be OK, but it hasn't been cooking, do you mind if I heat it up myself?"

Ethan smiled weakly. "I know I told you no magic to make dinner today but I don't think either of us was expecting to have to go fight a ghost. I think I speak for both of us when I say I'm hungry, go ahead and cook it."

Together they headed into the kitchen, sitting down at the table. Both of them were drained and Benny used his magic to prepare dinner, ensuring that neither of them had to get up. Soon dinner was ready, and Benny used his magic to cut the chicken knowing that Ethan would be eating with his left hand. Dinner passed in silence, neither of them willing to muster up the energy to say anything. Eventually though, as Benny magiced the dishes clean and banished them back to their cabinets, he remembered something he had meant to ask Ethan. "Did you figure out if the kid is a spellcaster?" He asked as he helped Ethan up from the table.

Ethan nodded, "Yeah, he's pretty low level though."

"Does he know?" Benny asked.

"I don't think so," Ethan replied, "but I only got a glimpse, so I don't really know."

Recognizing that his friend was too exhausted and in too much pain to think clearly, Benny stopped his questioning and helped Ethan to his bedroom. As Ethan turned in for the night Benny realized that he wasn't tired enough to go to sleep. Instead he headed back to the magic room, pulling out the witch jar in which he had trapped the ghost. He and Ethan had prepared for such events and had a locked chest that could only be opened by the two of them. Opening said chest, he deposited the witch jar beside the other jars already present. He didn't yet know how to dispose of the spirits that were trapped which was why they kept them in a locked chest. All of the spirits that he and Ethan had fought and trapped weren't exactly nice, and it would've been very bad if any of them escaped. The chest was getting full though, and Benny knew that they would have to figure something out soon. He headed back to the kitchen, grabbing the book that he had left there before dinner started the first time. He might as get some reading in, it would be awhile before he was tired enough to sleep - or rather, before the adrenaline faded.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Neither Benny nor Ethan had an official job, as they often got paid for their supernatural help and advice, and so they were both able to sleep in the next morning. When they finally did get up Benny decide to speak to Ethan about the spirits they had captured.

"The chest is getting pretty full," he started, not bothering to explain – Ethan would know what he was talking about. "Have you figured out what we're going to do with the spirits?" The two of them had sat down to breakfast as soon as Ethan had changed his bandages and were currently eating, planning out their day as usual.

"We could always ask your grandmother," Ethan offered, a thoughtful expression on his face as he pondered the question.

"She isn't in Whitechapel right now," Benny reminded his friend. "We're on our own for this one."

"Compile all the information we have on spirits," Ethan decided after thinking for a moment. "I'm going to call all of our contacts that I think could help, maybe one of them knows something."

They didn't need to plan anything else at that moment, their night already taken by a prior arrangement. Ethan's sister was off to college soon and they were going to Ethan's house for dinner that night before she left. Jane would be bringing her boyfriend and so Ethan had been allowed to bring Benny, not that he wouldn't have come anyway – Benny was practically part of the Morgan family.

Benny nodded in acceptance of their plans for the morning, leaving the room for the magic room. He heard Ethan take out his cell phone as he left the room and wondered who Ethan would call. They knew a lot of people, and had met many other spell casters on their journeys. While not all of them had been spell masters, level of power didn't matter - in this regard, it was only knowledge that mattered. They all had different areas of expertise, but Benny doubted that many of them knew how to expel spirits. That was why only Ethan was calling their contacts and why he was searching their own store of information, it wouldn't do to rely only on what others knew. There were some spell books that he had collected that he had not managed to read yet, or at least not the whole book. He pulled out all those books and took them back to the living room, content to read them in silence while Ethan called anyone he could think of.

The time passed slowly; Benny wasn't the type to sit around reading too often. He could concentrate a lot more than he could when he was younger though, and he managed to get a good bit of reading in before he needed a break. Shutting the book he was currently reading he stood up and stretched. Ethan understood immediately that Benny needed a break and finished his current call, looking at his friend expectantly, as if asking what he wanted to do. In response, Benny summoned a game controller to his hand, holding it up for his friend to see. Ethan smiled and the two spent a few minutes debating which game to play before finally sitting down to relax. Despite the fact that they were now grown men, and that they fought the supernatural weekly, Ethan and Benny still enjoyed having fun playing video games and they didn't care how childish it was. It was a good 30 minutes after they started playing that the doorbell rang. "It's just Rory," Ethan stated quickly, engrossed in the game.

"Come in, the door's open!" Benny shouted, not wanting to get up.

"Uh, there's someone with me," Rory's hesitant voice followed the sound of the door opening.

They reluctantly paused their game, setting down the controllers and heading to the foyer. Rory stood in the doorway with a girl they had not seen before. "Sorry," Ethan whispered to Benny, "I wasn't paying attention."

Benny shrugged off the apology, knowing his friend was still in pain; it wasn't a big deal, besides the wards were more than capable of stopping any potential threat.

"She needs your help," Rory told them, gesturing to his friend.

"I'm a-"

"You're a fledgling," Ethan finished.

Benny gave his friend a quick glance, he knew Ethan's powers were still developing but Ethan had never been able to sense what sort of supernatural powers anyone had before. Ethan, sensing his friends glance, glanced back at Benny and shrugged. "Tell you later," he mumbled under his breath before turning back to Rory and his friend.

"How do you know that?" the girl asked, clearly puzzled.

Ethan shrugged again and Benny decided to save his friend. "What do you think we can do to help you? And why couldn't it wait until Sunday when we hold our council?"

Benny and Ethan did their best to help others who had supernatural problems. They had located an island near Indonesia that was completely barren and used it to hold council once a week. They disguised themselves so that they were unrecognizable to anyone, appearing only as shadowy figures. They were known as the Seer and the Sorcerer, and while they weren't known throughout the world, they were still relatively well known and had many visitors. The current problem was that sometimes those who needed help did not have the means to get to the island; for the most part though, people either knew or were a powerful enough spellcaster and were able to make it to the island. Their meeting time was Sunday, so Benny was curious as to why Rory was asking for their help now, only two days away from the meeting time. Not to mention Rory was giving away who they were, and while Ethan had already given away that they knew about the supernatural, few people knew that they were the fabled Seer and Sorcerer.

The girl switched her gaze from Ethan to Benny, desperation in her eyes. "Rory said you could make a blood substitute, I don't want to be a vampire!" She begged.

Ethan gave Rory a look, and while Rory wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, they had been friends long enough that he understood exactly what Ethan was asking. He shook his head strongly with his usual energy. "I just met her yesterday!" He declared enthusiastically.

The girl glanced at Rory before turning back to Benny. "I met Rory at a vampire party yesterday. Today is my last day to drink blood or my mortal body dies, but I don't want to hurt anyone. I'm really thirsty, but for some reason I can't smell you two."

Benny and Ethan glanced down at the doorway that neither Rory nor his friend had crossed. "That would be the wards," Benny explained, "they're anti-vampire, Rory can smell us because he's keyed into the wards and can enter the house, but you're not keyed in, so the only thing you can do is see and hear inside, and only what we let you. I'm going to go get you any blood substitute that we have." He gave Ethan one last glance before leaving the room.

"Sorry," Ethan told the girl, "I can't let you in, Benny is the one that controls the wards."

"It's all right, it's probably better than I can't smell you," she replied, glancing at the neighbors' door almost hungrily.

Benny came back with the blood substitute, handing it to the girl through the doorway. She grabbed it eagerly, tearing off the lid and gulping it down. "That's all we have, it's been awhile since anyone needed it," Benny said, "but if you come to our council meeting on Sunday I should have some more made by then."

"Council meeting?" she asked as she finished the bottle.

"We give counsel to anyone who needs it," Ethan explained, "every Sunday on Barren Island."

The girl stared at them, stunned. "That's you? You're the Seer and the Sorcerer?"

Benny raised an eyebrow. "Not what you expected?"

She just shook her head, completely overwhelmed. "Everyone thinks your ancient, but you're just a little older than me!"

"You realize you can't tell anyone?" Ethan asked.

"What?"

"It's a major secret," Rory injected in his usual enthusiastic manner, "I'm one of their undercover agents!"

"Which is why you're supposed to bring them to the meetings, not our front door," Benny told him, slightly exasperated with his old friend.

"It was an emergency!" Rory protested.

"Which is why we're not wiping her memory," Ethan stated before turning back to the girl. "Rory can fly you to the island every Sunday, we'll give you blood substitute to last the week."

The girl nodded in acceptance, expressed her gratitude once more, and left. Rory followed the two brothers back to the living room where they unpaused their game and added a third player. He jumped into their game enthusiastically and they participated in small talk as they played.

Eventually Benny noticed that his friend's face was paling and he was favoring his right arm. As they finished a level he paused the game, setting down his controller and standing up. "I think it's time for a break," he announced, moving toward the kitchen. "I'm going to grab a snack, any requests?"

As his friends chimed in Benny's gaze met Ethan's. Ethan gave him a small smile, acknowledging that both of them knew the real reason Benny had stopped the game, and Benny smiled in return before repeating the requests to verify them and heading to the kitchen. He returned with the snacks to find Ethan asking Rory all he knew about spirits, which didn't turn out to be much. The two grabbed their snacks eagerly, Benny slipping a pain reliever into Ethan's pile, knowing that his friend would never ask for one.

Rory might not have needed to eat but he certainly enjoyed it, the three friends digging into their afternoon meal. "What about the Cubile Animus?" He asked. "Didn't we use it to get rid of that one demon?"

Ethan and Benny shared a glance. "The Cubile Animus only traps the spirits, it doesn't expel them from this world," Ethan explained cautiously.

"Besides, it's well hidden – we can't risk anything getting out of there," Benny added, an unspoken 'again' hanging in the air. Several years ago while Benny and Ethan had been in college, an incident with another classmate had occurred and a spirit had gotten out. They had barely escaped with their lives and since then they had found a much more secure hiding place for the nest of souls – unaware of what other deadly spirits might be trapped inside. Thankfully Rory didn't notice their hesitation.

"Bummer," he declared, "that's all I got." He stood up. "Are we still hanging out tomorrow?"

"Definitely," Ethan replied as Benny nodded behind him. "It's been too long."

Rory smiled happily before using his vampire speed to disappear.

The five friends made a point to get together every now and again, helping each other out and just having fun. They had been through so much together and were a close group – no matter how much Erica denied that they were friends, even she always showed up. Though Ethan and Benny had stayed in Whitechapel their three vampire friends had not. Fearing that people would realize they were not changing they chose to travel a bit before finding a new place to settle down. Perhaps they would eventually return to Whitechapel for good but that was currently not an option.

Break time over – having lasted much longer than they had originally intended – they cleared away their snacks, turned off the game, and got back to work. Again the time passed slowly and eventually Ethan set down his cell phone with an exasperated sigh. "There has got to be some other way to do this."

Benny closed his book, taking note of the page. "It's not like we can just ask the spirits," he scoffed before changing his voice slightly. "Excuse me, how do we expel you into the afterlife?" He dropped the act, looking exasperated and clearly out of ideas.

Ethan paused, something Benny said gave him an idea. "Maybe we can," he mused, still thinking. At Benny's skeptical look he raised an eyebrow. "Not all spirits want to kill us Benny."

It took a moment but as soon as Benny understood he reeled backward, shocked. "Oh no, no, no, no, you can't be serious E!" He protested strongly. "She's crazy! There's no guarantee she'll even help us."

"She won't kill us," Ethan countered.

"Speak for yourself."  
Ethan sighed. "She has a grudge against spellcasters because a spellcaster killed her – that doesn't mean she's going to kill you."

"Only because she likes you," Benny shot back.

Ethan shuddered slightly at that but continued. "She's not a threat Benny."  
"Oh come on, you can't say she doesn't creep you out!"  
"Creep me out or not you know she's our best shot at this – if anyone would have the information it's her." Benny scowled and Ethan pressed on. "You could always stay here."

Benny turned to glare at Ethan at the suggestion. "Low blow, bro," he half growled. Both of them knew that neither of them would leave the other behind when walking into a potentially dangerous situation.

Ethan shrugged, slightly apologetic but not enough to retract his statement. "She's our best chance," he stated, and Benny couldn't help but reluctantly concede.

As they made their way to the Whitechapel Public Library – where the spirit had chosen to 'reside' – Benny couldn't help but think back to when they had first met her.

* * *

"Why are we going to the library?" Benny asked as they trudged through town.

"I told you," Ethan responded with the air of someone who had answered the same question multiple times already, "Jane thought there might be a spirit there."

"And why was Jane at the library?" Benny whined as Ethan sighed. "We never went to the library," he grumbled to himself.

"It might be nothing," Ethan reminded his friend, seeing past Benny's whining. Benny disliked anything to do with spirits, largely due to the fact that he couldn't see them.

Benny just frowned. "With us it's never nothing."

And as they finally entered the attic storeroom of the library – the most likely place they'd find a ghost Benny had argued – his suspicions were proven correct. A decrepit old lady in a long white dress stood there, her back to Ethan and Benny, humming as she read a book. Her humming was wild and jumped around with no discernible tune and she flipped through the pages of the book just as wildly, as though she were only reading some of them. Of course, Benny couldn't see her but he could see the book floating in midair and he could hear her wild humming.

"This was a bad idea," Benny whispered to Ethan.

"What?"

"I can hear it humming." Ethan gave him a confused glance and Benny decided to clarify. "I couldn't hear Coach Ed but I can hear it – it is way more powerful than he was."

"She," Ethan responded distractedly, trying to form a plan. "The ghost is a woman."

Benny let his friend think, going over an arsenal of useful spells in his head before glancing up and looking around. "E," he began hesitantly, unable to place what was wrong, "does it seem … quiet to you?"  
Ethan looked up, about to respond, and jumped back in shock. The ghost had noticed them and wandered over, staring at them with a crazed maniac smile on her face.

Upon recognizing that Ethan could see her she cackled. "Well, well, it's been awhile since a seer was in Whitechapel. What year is it?" Ethan told her and she frowned pensively before the mad grin returned to her face. "It's been a long while," she leered, studying Ethan with much more interest than before. Ethan took a step back and her grin widened.

Benny saw none of this – though he heard all of it – but he didn't like the ghost's tone. As Ethan stepped back he stepped forward defensively, peering at where he thought the ghost was. "I'm Benny, Spellmaster," he introduced himself, subtly warning the ghost not to try anything.

Unfortunately the ghost didn't get the message and she hissed, drawing herself up to her full height as she transitioned from an insane happy woman to an insane angry woman in a heartbeat. Benny ducked as a book went flying his way and it was Ethan's turn to step forward, attempting to placate the ghost as books continued to fly.

"Calm down," he half shouted through the noise of books hitting the ground, his hands held up in the universal gesture of 'I'm not going to hurt you'. "Benny didn't do anything to you!"

"Liar!" she hissed, flinging even more books. "Murderer!"

Ethan didn't move from where he faced the ghost, blocking most of her shots, but he turned his head slightly, lowering his voice to speak with Benny. "Benny, go downstairs," he said slowly, hoping to avoid the ghost's attention.

"But-" Benny began, cut off as he dodged a particularly large book. Ethan turned his head more, giving Benny a look, and Benny reluctantly agreed that it wasn't Ethan the ghost was mad at. He frowned and headed downstairs, dodging one last book as he left. Time to try that spell that enhances your hearing – he didn't trust that ghost, not one bit.

Eventually Ethan had gotten the ghost to calm down and Benny had returned upstairs. She seemed to switch between three extremes: super nice, beyond angry, and just plain creepy – all of them insane. Nevertheless, she wasn't too bad. She claimed she never left the attic and she knew quite a bit – though they had been unable to determine just how long she had been up there.

* * *

Benny returned to the present moment, grimacing as he recalled the books that had hit their target. Together they headed up to the attic, Benny hanging back slightly. To stay on her good side they wanted Ethan to be the first person she saw, not Benny. Luckily she was in a good mood today. The conversation went exactly as expected. The ghost was eager to give Ethan what he wanted and seemed glad to have company – though she hissed at Benny more than once. She did in fact have the knowledge they wanted and, after ensuring they wouldn't use it against her, gave them a very detailed description. Benny was sure to listen carefully, knowing that the smallest thing could make a big difference.

"See, that turned out fine," Ethan told him as they exited the library, heading to a back alley.

Benny just looked around and snapped his fingers, teleporting them back to their apartment. "She's still creepy," he said as he headed to the magic room. He was sure that, behind him, Ethan was smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

They spent the rest of the day exercising spirits until it was time to leave for Ethan's house. They would have done it all at once if they could have but you can't exercise a spirit trapped in a jar by magic. Instead they timed it carefully, Ethan releasing each one carefully just before Benny completed his spell. Thankfully there were no mishaps and they prepared for dinner at the Morgan's unscathed – excepting previous injuries of course. Before leaving Benny gave Ethan one last pain killer, knowing Ethan wouldn't want to alert his still oblivious parents to his wound. It was amazing that the Morgans had remained so ignorant of the supernatural world when their own son and daughter were a part of it, but then again, though legends were common in Whitechapel the majority of the town remained ignorant of the secret lives many of the citizens had.

Once they arrived at the Morgan's Ethan didn't bother with the doorbell, knocking on the door as he opened it. His mom came to greet them, then yelled up the stairs for Jane.

"Ethan and Benny are here," she yelled, "come introduce them to your boyfriend." She turned back to Ethan and Benny. "I've got to get back to the kitchen before dinner is ruined," she told them with a smile as they all shared a look; Ethan's father wasn't known for his cooking skills, in fact he was known for the exact opposite. As she headed back into the kitchen again they turned toward the stairs in time to see Jane and her boyfriend heading down. All three boys stopped in shock as they stared at each other but Jane didn't notice right away; too busy greeting the new arrivals.

She smiled at her brother. "This is my boyfriend, Jacob Hall." She turned and gestured to him only to find that he was several steps behind her, gazing at Ethan and Benny in shock.

"I thought…" he began, only to be silenced as Benny flung out a hand and zapped him.

At that moment Mr. Morgan came to tell them dinner was ready and the confused teenager was forced to remain silent. As soon as their father left Jane turned to Ethan, her angry glare demanding he explain.

Ethan just shrugged. "We've met before," he offered, not really explaining much.

Jane just scowled. "I don't care, you can't just put a spell on my boyfriend Benny!" She concentrated, trying to come up with the proper reversal spell, before mumbling under her breath, allowing her boyfriend to speak again.

Benny shrugged. "He was going to reveal our secret and your dad was about to walk in."

Ethan turned to Jacob. "We'll speak about this after dinner. Not one word to my parents," he warned him. "They don't have a clue about the supernatural and I plan to keep it that way."

He and Benny turned and headed to the kitchen after that, but not before they heard Jacob's shocked whisper to Jane. "You're a witch?" They didn't wait to hear the answer, sharing a smirk as they left the room.

Dinner passed normally, though Jacob was mostly silent. He kept shooting looks at Ethan and Benny, not understanding what was going on. Just yesterday they had been introduced to them as Evan and Brian White, twins who had defeated and captured a ghost at his house at great risk to themselves. Now he found out they weren't twins at all but one of them was his girlfriend's brother, he didn't look remotely injured despite the wound Jacob had seen earlier, and his girlfriend herself was a witch as well. It was a lot to take in.

In fact, though, not all of Jacob's observations were accurate. Ethan was favoring his right arm but he was able to conceal it well, years of practice to thank for that. He and Benny had been hiding small injuries since high school and if his parents had noticed they had easily been able to pass it off and think of a reasonable excuse. They had been teenage boys after all, and his parents never got too concerned. Now however, Ethan was in fact able to mask his own injury because of Jacob's presence at the dinner table, and because of Jacob's own injury. His parents fussed over him, with an arm in a sling there wasn't much he could do, and as such they didn't notice when Ethan allowed himself to wince or switched his eating hand.

They mainly talked about college at dinner, allowing Jane to dominate the conversation. Ethan and Benny contributed a bit of their own college experience, attempting to soothe her nerves but also acting as big brothers and teasing her about her worries. Neither Ethan's father or mother noted Jacob's silence, too busy fusing over Jane or helping Jacob out to realize he wasn't speaking much. It probably helped that this was the first time Jacob had joined them for dinner. Though he had met the Morgan's before (just the parents and not Ethan) they didn't know him as well as Jane and weren't too aware of his personality. To them he simply came off as a quiet person.

Benny, Ethan, and Jane knew better though and, though Jane allowed herself to occasionally be distracted by the conversation, Jane was also shooting glances at them. She was almost as confused as Jacob, not certain as to how he knew her brother or why Ethan had revealed to him the world of magic. Hopefully he had already known but if he had Jane didn't want to think about why. It was possible Jacob was a werewolf or other such creature but she didn't want to consider that.

Eventually dinner ended and Ethan and Benny helped out in the kitchen before following Jane and Jacob upstairs. They headed into her room – which thankfully wasn't as pink as it used to be – to find them on the bed, Jane demonstrating a small bit of magic. As they entered Jacob looked up.

"Now will you explain what this is about? Why did you lie when you introduced yourself?" He asked, sounding extremely frustrated, before turning to Jane. "And why didn't you tell me you were a witch?"

Ethan surveyed him calmly. "I'll start from the beginning. I'm Ethan Morgan, this is my sister Jane, and my best friend, Benny Weir. We're not twins, but we've known each other long enough to act like it. He's a Spellmaster, Jane has some magical abilities but she's not as powerful as him, and I'm not a spellcaster." He spoke calmly with his usual determination and Jacob found himself calming down as he listened to what Ethan had to say. His girlfriend's brother was a natural leader, and it showed whenever he decided to take charge of a situation. "We don't generally use the term witch. The reason we lied to you is because…" he broke off; glancing at Jane before continuing, "…well because it's a dangerous world out there." He wasn't about to get into exactly how dangerous it was but Jane knew he was hiding things from her.

She glared at him. "Don't think I didn't realize something's going on. You and I are having a talk when this is all over."

Ethan winced slightly, his sister was not someone to mess with, before shifting his gaze back to Jacob. "You're a spellcaster too," he said calmly, unknowingly calming Jane's small fear of Jacob being something else.

Unfortunately it didn't calm Jacob and that more than anything shocked him. "What?" he asked, looking around as if hoping someone would tell him it was all a joke. "Listen, the only reason I know about magic is because my mother…" he died off, finally realizing exactly what it meant that his mother had been magical. Ethan nodded at him and Jacob looked down at his hands, as if looking for the power he didn't know he had.

As Jacob's mind worked furiously to process all that he had learned that night Benny shifted in the doorway. "I think your parents are getting suspicious," he said to Ethan, "we don't normally hang out in Jane's room."

Ethan nodded again and together they headed out the door. "We'll meet tomorrow," he promised Jane as he paused in the doorway.

"Uh, E?" Benny spoke up. "We're meeting with Sarah and Erica and Rory tomorrow."

Ethan frowned and glanced back at Jane and her still stunned boyfriend. "It'll be a good experience for him. I'll pick you up at one," he told Benny and Jane respectively.

Jacob glanced at him, "Who're Sara, Erica, and Rory?" he asked apprehensively.

Ethan just grinned and left.

He and Benny headed downstairs and said their goodbyes to his parents. Ethan closed the door behind him, turning to Benny. "That was unexpected."

Benny grinned at him, taking it all in stride. "The poor kid's going to be terrified when he meets a real live vampire," he frowned slightly. "Or is it a real dead vampire?"

Ethan just laughed. "I doubt Erica or Sarah will scare him for you."

"So I can just get Rory to do it. Rory's easy to convince."

"Rory's not exactly the most imposing figure out there."

"Hmm, do you think I can convince him to come early? I think I've got some convincing props."

They continued their conversation until they walked somewhere unseen and disappeared with a snap.

* * *

While Ethan and Benny weren't worried about Jacob in the slightest Ethan couldn't help but feel a bit of nervousness about confronting his sister. Since their very first supernatural adventure they had tried to shield Jane from the worst of it. For the most part they succeeded, and though Jane was no longer an easily frightened little girl she still had no idea about the majority of what Ethan and Benny did. She would be furious that they had kept it from her and, Ethan worried, she may even want to help. Another thing that worried him was Sarah. The three vampires were knowledgeable about their activities, but not the full extent. He knew Erica wouldn't care – or at least act like she didn't care – and that Rory would be oblivious as always, but he didn't know how Sarah would react. He fell asleep that night, worrying about the day to come.

Despite their apprehension, life went on as it normally did. After breakfast they got right back into exorcising spirits. Unfortunately the spell involved took a great deal of time and they had ten years' worth of spirits piled up in their trunk. Like they had said earlier, they didn't see too many spirits though, and for that they were thankful. Most of the spirits they ran across weren't powerful enough to affect the physical world and had been easy to deal with, unlike the spirit at the Hall's house.

It was when Benny began the spell for the fifth time that morning that things began to go wrong. The spirit was an old one – one they had captured back in high school with the help of Sarah, Erica, and Rory – and a very powerful one at that. He, for the ghost had been male, had served the every whims of a sorcerer with delight, relishing in the evil acts he had committed. When they had caught the ghost the sorcerer had gone underground, seemingly distraught over the loss of his puppet, and they had never found him. But Benny and Ethan had never labeled the containers, and high school had been a long time ago. They didn't know that this particular container held the hardest ghost they'd ever come across, if only because he was aided by a very powerful spellcaster. And so they weren't particularly cautious, most of the spirits were weak and Ethan had no reason to think that this particular one might be different.

When he opened the jar he had expected the spirit to slowly uncoil, taking it's time to form after being cramped for so long as Benny finished up the last words of the spell, safely expelling the ghost from this world. Despite the time that had passed, however, this ghost had been biding his time, waiting just for the right opportunity to make his move. He had not been terribly weakened by his long stay and was eagerly anticipating the day he could get free. As soon as the first crack of the outside world appeared he burst outward, creating a concussive blast of energy that knocked Ethan and Benny down and out. The ghost paused as he floated above his captors, cackling to himself – oh they would pay for what they had done, of that he was sure. But first – he tilted his head, focusing on something only he could feel – first it was time to find his Master. He flew off, leaving Ethan and Benny groaning on the floor as they slowly regained consciousness.

When they did wake they were stunned, unaware of what just happened, but they weren't stupid and they noticed the empty jar in Ethan's hand.

"I never finished the spell," Benny said unnecessarily, both of them staring at the container.

Ethan just nodded in response before looking up and catching Benny's eyes. Neither of them needs to say anything, they knew they were both thinking the same thing – who was in that container? They got up slowly, a little sore from being knocked down, and Ethan finally spoke up. "Any way to track it?" They both already knew the answer, their luck can't be that good, but they needed to hear it spoken aloud, needed to have it confirmed before they do anything else.

Benny shook his head, clenching his jaw slightly in a way that conveyed his anger. "I don't know who it even was; you can't track what you don't know."

They had a short discussion before eventually coming to the conclusion that there was nothing they could do. They were frustrated that they could do nothing to stop the wayward specter but they don't even know who it was. Understandably worried they put off the rest of the exorcisms until they can find a better way to do it. They don't want another mishap to occur and so they put away the remaining containers, there are only a few left but without a proper labeling system they had no idea of who remained.

Together they discussed possible options until it was time to get Jane and her boyfriend. Though they would be teleporting there they didn't feel that Jacob was ready for that, and teleporting two people is much easier than teleporting four. With that in mind they contact their three vampire friends to inform them that instead of meeting at the apartment they'd be waiting at the graveyard fairly close to Ethan's old home. When they had decided on this (mainly for the seclusion it would provide) Benny had laughed, citing the irony that the graveyard had been basically where the entire adventure had started with the unveiling of the Cubile Animus. Nevertheless it is where they decide upon and, with a snap of his fingers, Benny and Ethan are no longer in the apartment.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere, in a different country, in a dark room lit only by candles – no windows to be seen – a specter floats near a sorcerer, both of them powerful in their own right. Both of them ancient. And both of them with a thirst for revenge.

"You're telling me they released you?" the sorcerer hissed skeptically, cloaked not only by the shadows in the room but also by the dark hood obscuring his face.

The floating ghost bowed his head. "Of course master, they were planning on exorcising me." He cackled mischievously, as though he knew something Ethan and Benny did not.

The sorcerer threw back his head and laughed along with the specter, a deep throaty laugh that echoed menacingly throughout the small room. "Fools!" He scoffed derisively. "I have bound you to this plane – no simple exorcism would suffice."

The ghost cackled again. "They thought I was no longer aware, expecting me to slowly slink out of the jar as though I were a lesser spirit."

Beneath the hood a smile could be seen forming on the man's face, a smile that promised pain and suffering, pain and suffering that he would enjoy watching. "Perhaps we should remind them who we are," he suggested, malice coating his every word. And the ghost smiled in return.


End file.
